Star Clusters

D.Khanna and P. Malin Bruntha Presented at

Karunya Institute of Technology Youth Astronomy and Space
and Sciences, Coimbatore Science Congress 2025
 What are star
clusters?
• Star clusters are not only
beautiful to look at through
telescopes, but they're also
the key to unlocking the
mysteries of how a star is
born.
The Universe and the
Clusters of Stars

• The universe:- –
• a complicated place filled
with complicated things
• from the micro scale
of atoms
• to the macro scale of galaxy
clusters.
The Universe and the
Clusters of Stars
• Star Clusters:-
• On the larger side of that spectrum
fall star clusters
• More or less exactly what their
name implies – A group of stars
• Star clusters are groups of hundreds
to millions of stars
• Provide astronomers crucial insight
into stellar evolution through
comparisons of stars' ages and
compositions.
 How are star
clusters
formed?

• "Star clusters form out of

large interstellar regions
of gas and dust called
molecular clouds,"
- Aaron M. Geller,
Astronomer,
Northwestern University,
 How are star
clusters formed?
• The densest areas of those molecular
clouds collapse into themselves to form
stars.
• In some cases, the stars disperse after
their creation.
• If there enough stars formed close
enough together - they may remain
gravitationally bound and live as a star
cluster.
 Star Clusters = A
Galaxy?
• But, star clusters are not galaxies.
• Galaxies ---- also gravitationally bound
groups of stars.
• If there's dark matter in the mix, then
that group of stars is likely a galaxy.
 Galaxy needs
dark matter
• "The most straightforward
differentiation would be
whether a group of stars is
bound together by their own
gravity or if you need to have
dark matter included in that
cluster in order to keep it
together,"
Jason Steffen,
Assistant Professor of
physics and astronomy,
University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
 Galaxies are
gargantuan!!!
• Galaxies are generally
larger than star clusters…
• Galaxies are like the cities
that star clusters live in
• Galaxies can contain
thousands or more star
clusters, and many
molecular clouds, and dark
matter, et cetera.
 The age matters

• Another factor that differentiates star clusters from galaxies: The

age
• Within each cluster, stars are roughly the same age and made
from roughly the same materials.
• Why?
• They formed from the same molecular cloud
- The Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF).
Galaxy – Young to very old

• Stars within a galaxy, on

the other hand, can be a
variety of ages and have
a variety of
compositions.
• That's why stellar
clusters are so
important to
astronomers who are
studying stellar
evolution.
 100 million vs 1 billion

• If we have a star cluster that's 100 million years old, and

then we have a star cluster that's a billion years old, we
basically have two snapshots of the lives of stars.
• Comparing the two helps us to understand what's going
on the insides of the stars and how they evolved
throughout their lifetimes.
 There are
three main Globular clusters,
types of Open clusters, and
star Stellar associations
clusters:
Types of
star
clusters
Each of them have different properties
that provide different information to
astronomers.
 Globular
Clusters
• If viewed with the naked
eye, globular clusters look like
faint smudges of light against
the darkness of space.
• But a telescope reveals their
true form: thousands to
millions of stars form a
spherical shape with a bright,
dense core.
 Age of the
globular clusters
• Stars in globular clusters formed
in the early days of the universe
• Around 10 billion years ago.
• Some of the oldest stars in
existence.
-Harvard and Smithsonian Center
for Astrophysics
 Characteristics of the globular
clusters

• Because they are so old, they are "metal-poor," meaning they

lack the heavy elements that did not exist in the early universe.
• (Those elements would be created later on by supernovas.)
• Because globular clusters have little gas and dust left, they no
longer produce new stars.
• They are found near the center of a galaxy.
• regions of from 10 to 30 light-years across
 Characteristics of the globular
clusters

• very old Population II stars

• mostly yellow and red, with masses less than two solar masses.
• a few rare blue stars exist..
• distributed roughly spherically in the galactic halo, around
the Galactic Centre
• orbiting the centre in highly elliptical orbits.
 How many in a
galaxy?
• Approximately 150 globular
clusters in the Milky Way
galaxy
• The Andromeda galaxy --
400
• The M87 galaxy -- more than
10,000
 Famous Globular
Clusters

• Omega Centauri -- the

largest known globular
cluster in our galaxy
• M13 -- one of the brightest
Open Clusters –
Characteristics
• Open clusters - also known as
galactic clusters
• Do not have a distinct shape
• Their stars - loosely clustered
together in an amorphous
gravitationally bound group.
• They contain – 100s or 1000s of stars
• Near the outer edges of a galaxy
 • Far less dense than globular clusters.
Open Clusters – • Open clusters - much younger – The oldest being about a
Characteristics billion years old.
• Their composition has a larger range of elements.
 A region up to about 30 light-years
across

They are confined to the galactic plane

and are almost always found
Open Clusters - within spiral arms.
Characteristics
Dominated by hot young blue stars,

Such stars are short-lived in stellar

terms
 • All star clusters lose stars
over time in a process
called "evaporation…
• Open clusters with fewer
stars -- more loosely
gravitationally bound
• It's easy for their stars to
migrate away from the
group when pulled by
another object, such as a
Open Clusters may giant molecular cloud -
not the only way open
loose a star or two.. clusters lose stars.
 Famous
Open
Clusters
• The most famous -
the Pleiades - M45 or the
Seven Sisters.
• Last moniker - a misdirection
• The cluster has more than
1,000 stars
• Only a handful of its brightest -
visible to the naked eye.
Famous Open
Clusters

• The Hyades -
• the closest open
cluster to Earth
• A Double Cluster
• comprises two side-
by-side clusters.
Stellar Associations
- Characteristics
• Stellar - quite a bit different.
• Stellar associations - groups of tens to
hundreds of stars
• Have similar ages
• Have similar metallicities
• Moving in roughly the same direction
within the galaxy
• Not gravitationally bound.
 Stellar Associations -
Characteristics
• Stellar - quite a bit different.
• Some stellar associations -
likely once open clusters
• But due to evaporation,
they no longer have their
gravitational bond.
• also referred to as
a moving group.
The End